Mohammad Yousuf may revive his international career to play England later this summer but Pakistan will remain woefully undermanned to face Australia in their second Test starting Wednesday.

Yousuf and Younus Khan were made the scapegoats of Pakistan's disastrous tour of Australia last winter, where the team contrived to lose the Sydney Test from a seemingly secure position on their way to a three-nil whitewash under Yousuf's captaincy, and were banned for life by a Pakistan Cricket Board review.

The bans were later lifted but Pakistan's cricket remains in a state of turmoil following their 150-run defeat to Australia at Lord's last week, their 13th successive Test defeat stretching back more than a decade. Shahid Afridi returned to Test cricket after a four-year absence as captain, played like it was a Twenty20 match and promptly retired again, saying he did "not have the temperament" for Test cricket.

Afridi has been replaced as captain by Salman Butt but the Pakistan assistant coach Ijaz Ahmed yesterday said no decision had been made on who would replace Afridi in the line-up to face Australia at Headingley. "He [Yousuf] can replace Afridi but the management haven't decided yet who," said Ijaz.

"It could come out in a couple of days. Maybe later, somebody will come but not at the moment."

A return for Younus, who has been playing county cricket at Surrey, is also possible but Yousuf seems the more likely at present. "These are the only two players we are talking about, Younus Khan and Yousuf," said Ijaz.

"Let's see, it might be decided about Yousuf. Yousuf might be coming here."

The 35-year-old Yousuf, who has scored 7,431 runs in 88 Tests, would add some much needed stability to Pakistan's middle order. With Azhar Ali and Umar Amin having made their Test debuts at Lord's and batting at positions three and four, Pakistan's batting looks decidedly vulnerable.